From Victor Harbour to Mount Gambier - 10-14/11/15

Port Elliot and Victor Harbour

new and used tyre and water tank toilet
We camped in Port Elliot on the showgrounds and when Martin checked the wheels of the Jeep he discovered the difference between a new and an used-around-Australia tyre... The toilets were great as well. Round and round in circles in concrete water tanks.

horse-drawn tram, tram station on Granite Island, the causeway and 'lazy' Sarah on the walk

It was still pretty cold and windy when we visited Victor Harbour. After a coffee and waffles in a warm cafe (because we were too early for the first ride) we took the famous horse-drawn tram over to Granite Island. The trams are replicas of the original trams used for passenger transport back in 1894 to the 1950s. They were built in 1986 according to old photographs and the basic line illustrations still available. Granite Island hosts a penguin centre because it used to be inhabited by a colony of Little Penguins. Unfortunately, the numbers have declined and we didn't see any. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the ride on the tram and little walk around the island and saw some dolphins feeding in the water close by. 


Mighty Murray River - Tailem Bend

Ferry ride, the Murray River, houses and sunset in Tailem Bend, the big harvester on the wheat fields, Sarah looking at tiny little snails, The Coorong (National Park)

Next day we started our journey towards Tailem Bend and had to cross the 'mighty Murray River' at Wellington. There are free ferries operating 24h a day at various locations along the river - what a great service. For the night we stayed in Tailem Bend, a small town at the river, with beautiful old houses (if you don't have to live in them) and a great sunset. The next day was a long drive along the Coorong National Park, a lagoon that extends about 130 km from the Murray mouth near Hindmarsh Island and Sir Richard Peninsula to the southeast. The Younghusband Peninsula separates the Coorong (water part) from the Southern Ocean. It is unique due to the mix of water sources over the length of it: sea water and river water get mixed with rain- and groundwater. The water appears to be yellow-greenish, but the pictures doesn't show the true colour. It's quite unique to drive along this water for hours on end.

Kingston SE

Cape Jaffa lighthouse, Kingston court house which is now a cafe and the esplanade

We stopped in Kingston SE at the beautiful, green grassed town free camp. What a shame that you can only stay for 24 hours there. It's a nice little town with lots of old stone buildings and some interesting looking shops, cafes and restaurants. The camp was just meters away from the jetty, the playground and a long foreshore - perfect for a little run. Fishing was out - it was blowing a gale on the jetty.

Naracoorte caves and Wynns wine estate in Coonawarra

Naracoorte caves and our favourite wine estate - Wynns in Coonawarra

Next day we drove to Naracoorte and had a look at the caves. There are about 28 caves in the area and just a couple that are open to public, but only one that is self-guided. Sarah was getting a bit tired by the time we arrived, so we decided against the guided tours in the better caves and did the self guided tour in the 'wet cave'. Turns out it wasn't wet at all. After climibing down a couple of steps we found some beautiful, big pillars and a big hall. We had some fun going trough a small tunnel and looking behind some walls into the little caveties.

The highlight of the day was certainly the visit to the Wynns wine estate in Coonawarra. After all, all our wedding-wine came from this winery ;-) We didn't know that they do some white wines as well - we really liked their Rieslings. Fortunatley we didn't know about their 'premium selections' where the top 2% of the harvest are used. They sure taste good, but would have sent us broke if we had it at the wedding!

The prime wine area in Coonawarra is relatively small. It's about 14km long by 2-3km wide. This area is a limestone rock covered with red soil. Apparently the perfect combination for wine.

We stayed at a nice little free camp just outside of Penola (the IGA has the best cheese selection I've ever seen in an IGA!) between 2 lakes. Well, there weren't any lakes - they were all dried up. Seems to be the story of our trip to find most of the country in severe drought.

Mount Gambier and Michelle & Chris' apple farm 

It was Saturday, so we were keen to get early to Mount Gambier for the farmers market. Not as in Queensland, here farmers markets mean that the farmer or producer is selling what he grows and produces. Still we were surprised to see only a handful of stalls - and none of them had those grocery items we were after. We started talking to an organic apple grower, who was selling apple juice there. They kindly invited us to stay with them on their farm for the night. More from there later.

It was still early morning and so we had a look around the town of Mount Gambier. There are two sink holes there. The smaller one was in the middle of the town surrounded by some beautiful rose gardens. The bigger one is located just outside the town. It has a walkway down to the bottom where a nice garden invites to play hide and seek. The edges are overgrown with hanging plants and at some places you can go behind this curtain. There are tables and picnic spots and you might see a possum as we did.

On the other side of town are some old crater lakes. The most impressive one is called 'Blue Lake'. Due to some algae growth the water colour changes in November from a tell grey to a deep blue colour. Apparently the algae is harmless as this lake also provides a lot of drinking water to the town.

Possum at the sink hole, Blue Lake and a very happy Sarah at the Organic Orchard with Chris and Michelle

We arrived at Michelle's and Chris's place, later that afternoon. Sarah was instantly in heaven - there were about 25 chicks. The youngest as young as 30 minutes old :-) After a cup of coffee Chris and Michelle showed us around. The orchard is about 4 ha in size, with some peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries and pears, but mainly apples. There are lots of geese, ducks and chooks running freely in the orchard. They try to get the right herbivore into the orchard to keep the grass under the trees short. Again there were lots of baby animals there and Sarah had fun to catch & pad them. On the next paddock they had a goat with a baby goat as well as a cow & heifer. They borrowed the goats from friends for their milk supply since they can't milk the cow at the moment, and Michelle showed us next morning how she milks the goat. They invited us for dinner (best fish ever) and again for breakfast with fresh rolled oats soaked in apple juice, fresh goats milk and goats yoghurt. Yummy!
It was very inspirational to hear them talk about their farm and their philosophy. They guarantee that all the apples are sold to the consumer within 4 days of picking! All the fruit that goes to shops is packed into 2kg cardboard boxes with the picking date on it. If it isn't sold within 4 days they take it back and juice it. To achieve this, they have planted some 30 different varieties, so over 5-6 months there are always some apples to harvest. Instead of investing into cold room storage they have invested into an apple press and pasteuriser to deal with the excess and blemished fruit. Again the idea is to provide highest quality apple juice. And I must say it tastes delicious! At the moment they deliver as far as Adelaide some 400km away - but again the idea is to sell everything locally. i.e not further than about 200km away. In a world where everything has to be bigger - it was so good to see, that they can make a living out of a relatively small farm. The two were very generous to us and just before we left loaded us up with some fresh eggs and apple juice. Thank you very much for an unforgettable stay and hospitality.